Differences
by tennis-player
Summary: AU, Yaoi. "It was that moment Yagyuu decided that god hated him. Though Yagyuu didn't believe in god, if there was one, Yagyuu was sure he hated him." Yagyuu is a detective working on a new case, but his new assistant, Niou, makes everything go wrong.
1. 1  The CrissCrossing of Lives

**Differences**  
Chapter 1 – The Crisscrossing of Lives  
Written by: Hinamori Henzie (tennis-player)

Yagyuu sighed and covered his eyes with his arm as the sunlight gently streamed through the small crack left where his two curtains met. Groaning, he rolled of his double bed set in the center of a small platform in the middle of his apartment bedroom. Once he heard that satisfactory "thud" of his body hitting the floor, he opened his eyes.

Standing, Yagyuu walked down the three steps that lead to aforementioned platform and entered the adjoining bathroom, staring into the mirror. His hair was askew from the night of sleep, and his clothes were disheveled from tossing and turning.

Heaving another sigh, he pulled the towel down from its hook and set it on the counter, splashing his face with freezing cold water. Then, gently patting it dry, he reached for his glasses and re-entered his bedroom. Walking over to his dresser, he picked out a new button down shirt and a nice pair of slacks.

After he was showered and dressed, Yagyuu made his way to his little kitchen, pulling out a frying pan and some eggs from his refrigerator. He quickly made himself breakfast and sat down at his table, flicking on the TV.

Starting on his eggs, he half-listened to the monotonic voice of the news announcer. Another man congratulating him on another job well done popped onto the TV, explaining his most recent achievement. Just like all the other news anchors did. Just like all the other article writers did. Just like EVERYONE did.

Oh, that's not to say he didn't enjoy being praised. No, no, it wasn't like that at all. One or two pats on the back were wonderful, really. A reminder as to why he did his job. But _this? This_ where everyone in the country were congratulating him day after day of things that happened days ago, weeks ago, and sometimes even months ago? No. Now _that_ was annoying.

After he finished eating, he stood and grabbed his bag from the hallway, slipping on his shoes. At this rate, he'd be nearly 40 minutes early for work, but he was Yagyuu Hiroshi, and Yagyuu Hiroshi must never be late. Not under any circumstances.

Yagyuu arrived at work, as predicted, approximately 40 minutes before he was required to be there. Heading down the hall ways he walked into his small office, opening the curtains and looking down on the city from his 24 floor up professional wing. Only the best of Japan's detectives were given places in this specialized building meant to deal with the most heinous of crimes.

That's right. Yagyuu Hiroshi was Japan's best detective, known world-wide to be smart, organized, cunning, professional, and every other thing anyone could possibly want in someone. And despite the so-called, "common knowledge" that Yagyuu was anyone's dream, Yagyuu was not quite as perfect as people seemed to believe he was.

He hated waking up in the morning. He was a little lazy and often winded up eating awfully unhealthy foods, including take out and instant ramen. He had small bruises in multiple places over his body because he was a little clumsy. He lived with a pet black cat named Yoru who he often winded up sitting on, leaving him with little cuts on his arms and palms. He hated geometry and he had an irrational fear of heights. That's right, Yagyuu Hiroshi was the furthest thing from perfect.

Picking up a stack of papers on his desk, he started flipping through his newest files. _'Hmmm… what's this…? A new case… sounds interesting…'_

Reading through the information, he found a series of different old files categorized as 'connected'. He sighed. Another one of these…? They were pathetic, really. The police, that is. Sticking a bunch of cases together and categorizing them as related to make them seem less incompetent than they actually were. Pathetic. He didn't know how many of these so-called, "connected" cases he's had to trash.

Quickly skimming, he noticed a seal at the bottom of the file. That seal represented Tezuka… Tezuka organized this file? There was no way it was fake… Tezuka was the best, second only to Yagyuu himself. Curiosity peaked, Yagyuu turned back to the front to give this file a thorough reading through.

The first thing Yagyuu noticed was that the incidents filed in this folder were all very flashy crimes. It was as if the criminal was doing crimes to attract the polices' attention to themselves… most criminal avoided being caught at all costs, but this one even gave hints to their next crimes in some of the files…

He then came across a piece of evidence taken from the crime scene. It was a letter, sealed off properly in a paper bag and in the case the tweezers that were used to pick it up. Good, the police had at least done _something_ right this time…

Slipping on a pair of plastic gloves pulled from the bottom drawer of his desk, Yagyuu opened the bag and examined the latter. It was…. gibberish. Random characters put together to create the illusion of a language. Interesting… Was there some hidden message, or was it a fluke…?

A knock on the door snapped Yagyuu out of his train of thought.

"Come in," he said, nodding at the door.

Tezuka entered, followed by a tall, slightly lanky man. He also had long, spiky white hair tied into a small rat tail in the back.

Yagyuu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _Everyone _was bleaching their hair these days. But what kind of idiot would take on the image of a "bad boy", or a gang member in his opinion, and become a cop? It was totally contradictory.

"Good morning, Yagyuu-kun. This man is assigned to be your new assistant," Tezuka explained, taking the route with as few words as possible. Just like Tezuka to get straight to the point.

Yagyuu raised his eye brow, inquiringly, but still politely. "An assistant? Am I required to have such a thing? I would much rather work on my own, Tezuka-kun, if that is possible…"

"Well, I am afraid it is not," Tezuka replied, face as straight as always. "This boy was the school's prodigy, and the government feels that he needs to work directly under the best to reach the best of his abilities. His name is Niou Masaharu. I'm counting on you, Yagyuu-kun," Tezuka finalized, nodding at his comrade before leaving the room.

Niou leaned against the wall, smirking confidently at the man who was considered his new 'superior'.

"How old are you, Niou-kun?" Yagyuu asked, nodding towards the man.

Niou grinned. "18. Yourself?"

Yagyuu nodded. "You are quite young, Niou-kun. Are you sure you are ready to take on this profession?"

"Yourself?" Niou asked again, still grinning that toothy grin of his.

"I am 18-years-old…" Yagyuu replied, slightly be-grudgingly.

"You are quite young, Ya~gyuu~. Are you sure you are ready to take on this profession?" he purred, distorting his new boss' name.

Yagyuu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This boy was quite the smart ass, wasn't he? _'Just what I wanted in an assistant, isn't it?' _he thought to himself sarcastically.

Niou chuckled. It was more than clear that Yagyuu didn't like him, even if a normal person couldn't tell from the outside. Yagyuu was quite good at masking his true emotions. _'Omoshiroi…' _Niou thought to himself. _'This will be fun, if nothing else.'_

Niou moved from his spot against the wall and walked towards Yagyuu's desk, picking though the file set in the center.

"Is this your newest case, Ya~gyuu~?" Niou asked, flipping through the papers.

Yagyuu nodded, slightly interested in seeing the abilities of his new inferior.

"Hmph…" Niou hummed, flipping through the files. "This criminal… it seems their crimes are only for show, ne? Clearly just for the sake of doing crimes… its quite twisted, isn't it…?" he smirked knowingly. "Well, at least they aren't a killer… it seems to revolve around stealing, and infiltrating larger buildings, huh?"

Yagyuu nodded. "You're quite sharp, Niou-kun. Being able to see all that from merely skimming the case is quite the feat."

Niou's smirk deepened. "It's really not that big a deal…"

The day went on with Niou and Yagyuu conversing, under the pretense of getting to know each other, when really, they were merely trying to figure each other out. A game, almost. The one to have the most about them found out looses, and Yagyuu sure as hell wasn't winning.

"So, I heard you only moved to Tokyo recently, Niou-kun," Yagyuu started. "Where did you live before…?"

"Kanagawa," Niou replied smoothly. "I want to Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Chuu for my school life. I was planning on going to their University branch, as well, but I was so gifted I never had to go to school."

'_Are you bragging…?" _Yagyuu thought to himself, slightly annoyed.

"Self confidence," Niou replied, reading Yagyuu's thoughts.

Yagyuu snorted lightly, looking up at Niou. Niou's eyes were unnaturally sharp, and they could pick up even the _slightest _of movements, or so his papers said.

- _Flashback_-

"_Yagyuu-kun?" Tezuka asked, stopping Yagyuu as he headed down to the lunch room._

"_Yes, Tezuka-kun?" Yagyuu replied, looking up at his friend._

"_This is a report on Niou-kun…" he said, passing a small stack of papers to the brunette. "You'll need it, trust me… he's quite a handful…"_

_Yagyuu nodded. "I see… thank you for your concern."_

_-Flashback over-_

Niou let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Reading up on me, Ya~gyuu~?"

"Yes," he replied.

Niou laughed a little more, then snatched the papers from Yagyuu, skimming through them quickly.

"A problem child…?" he asked out loud. "My, my, how rude of them… Hmmm, they do have quite a bit of information on me… but I don't think this will help you much," he smirked, tossing the papers back to his superior. "You can try, though, just don't expect any results."

Yagyuu nodded towards the slightly younger man. "You are really quite confident, aren't you?"

Niou nodded. "Indeed…. But I have all the right to that confidence, and I'll prove."

Yagyuu chuckled silently. "I'm looking forward to it…"

Yagyuu walked out of his work building and headed down the street. It was about 10:00, and quite dark, but he was far too used to walking around at night. Heading down the usual alley way, Yagyuu thought about all the things that had happened today. A new case, huh? Sounded like the perfect thing to fix up his less than interesting life as a detective… well, less than interesting by his standards.

And there was his new partner, too… Niou Masaharu. What a troublesome boy he was. That smirk of his made it seem as if he was always up to no good, and Yagyuu wouldn't be surprised if that were actually the case… he was more suspicious than anyone else he had ever met, yet that boy was going to be a detective? It just wasn't acceptable.

A sound from the far end of the alley awoke Yagyuu from his little thought bubble. Someone was coming in from behind him… my, my, this was troublesome… Well, if worst came to worst, he was more than capable of defending himself.

He heard gently footsteps in the distance, softly coming closer. So he was the target. Lovely…

He looked up to see three men waiting at the end of the alley he was headed down… he was cornered? What a pain…

He turned abruptly, startling the man who was previously behind him.

"Do you need something, sir?" he asked calmly.

One of the men behind him (formerly in front) laughed. "'Do you need something?'" the man mocked.

"Well…?" Yagyuu pressed.

The man before him smirked. "Why yes, yes I do…"

"And what might that be…?""

"You…" chuckled the man.

_That _surprised Yagyuu. Him? Whatever for?

"What do you mean…?" Yagyuu asked.

The man laughed loudly. "I'm not happy with you, kid. The one who got our leader arrested…"

If Yagyuu was any less of a gentleman, he would have twitched in annoyance. Kid? He was most certainly not! But leader…? Oh, he remembered now… he had arrested a couple of gang kinds a couple weeks back for beating a comrade of his. Was the leader one of them?

"I see," he stated calmly. "Well, I am afraid you cannot have me, so please, go back from which you came," he said, and started walking away.

"Whoa, wait up, boy…" the man growled, grabbing him by the shoulder gruffly and pulling him towards himself, glaring menacingly into his eyes, "I am afraid I cannot let you leave…" he smirked.

Yagyuu narrowed his eyes and backhanded the man, sending him to the ground. "Unhand me!" he ordered, before continuing his walk away from the man.

The three men at the end of the alley way waited for him, sneering. He knew they would try and stop him from escaping, but he could handle three men.

There was more chuckling from behind, followed by more footsteps.

….. okay, three men he could handle. Seven men, on the other hand, he could not.

He refused to turn to face the four new men behind him, for that would be acknowledging his fear. He was strong… he wasn't afraid of some stupid gang!

He glared ahead at the three men before him, and they smirked, knowing he knew exactly what would happen.

Yagyuu suddenly felt two arms wraps around his waist as a body pressed against his back. He stiffened, preparing to lash out, when he heard a familiar voice purr into his ear.

"My, my… how careless you are…" the voice said, and in the next instant, all the men were unconscious on the ground.

Yagyuu's eyes widened in shock, and he whipped around to see Niou standing over one of the unconscious men, looking down at him curiously.

Yagyuu stared. "Niou…-kun…?"

"What?" Niou replied, looking up at him.

Yagyuu didn't reply.

Niou shook his head. "Come on," he smirked. "Let's get back before you piss your pants."

Yagyuu lost every bit of will he had to thank his savior in that moment. "Yeah, whatever…" he replied, and headed back in the direction of his apartment. He could feel Niou's presence following him from a little ways behind.

"I can make it home on my own, Niou-kun…" Yagyuu said, not looking back at the barely shorter other man.

"I'm sure you can, Ya~gyuu~" Niou replied nonchalantly, continuing to follow his mentor.

Yagyuu frowned, but continued walking. When he reached his apartment he turned to Niou and nodded.

"You can go home now, Niou-kun," he told him.

Niou smirked. "Alright~ see you in the morning, Ya~gyuu~" Niou called out to him, before unlocking the apartment next to Yagyuu's and entering, before closing the door behind him once more with the click of the lock.

It was that moment Yagyuu decided that god hated him. Well, Yagyuu didn't really believe in god, but if there was one, Yagyuu was sure he hated him.


	2. 2 Connections

**Differences**  
Chapter 2 – Connections  
Written by: Hinamori Henzie (tennis-player)

Still very irritated from the day before, Yagyuu grudgingly rolled out of bed, once again waiting till he hit the floor to get up, and checked the clock.

11:00 am…

Well, he supposed it didn't really matter. It was his first day off in way too long.

Once he was ready and dressed, Yagyuu headed for the small kitchenette and began mixing the ingredients for a home-made pancake flour mix. He didn't understand the point of buying pre-made flours if he could make his own, better tasting one anyways.

Flicking on the TV once more, the news reporter started off his morning with his low, monotonic drawl, explaining the most recent break in, followed by an interview with Fuji Shyuusuke, a companion at Yagyuu's building.

'_Fuji-kun…?' _Yagyuu thought to himself. _'That can't be right… Fuji-kun is still in Hawaii, tailing a outlaw…'_

Panic immediately flushed through his veins, though he showed no sign of shock outwardly. Quickly standing from his seat at the table, he pulled on his shoes and coat in a rush and ran off to find where the interview was taking.

By the time Yagyuu reached the site of the interview, it was too late. Fuji-kun was long gone, and no one knew where he had gone…

But someone posing as Fuji-kun in his absence? Whatever for? And more importantly, who could possibly know about Fuji-kun being away, besides him and the others in is building…?

Frowning, Yagyuu headed back towards his workplace. So much for a day off…

Yagyuu hustled back to the office, inwardly panicking. How could that imposter have gotten information from their firm? It was unheard of!

Once he had arrived at the building, he headed for the second to top floor, making a beeline straight to Tezuka's office. He banged the door open without even a knock.

"Is Fuji-kun still in Hawaii?" he asked hurriedly.

Tezuka raised an eyebrow at the rude entry, but nodded. "Yes, in fact I just received a phone call from him. It seems his case is going well… why do you ask?"

Yagyuu frowned. "May I borrow your computer?"

Before Tezuka even had the change to reply, Yagyuu had moved to his companion's laptop and opened it, typing the password, and hitting the browser.

Tezuka frowned, noting the strange behavior from his long time colleague.

"What is it, Yagyuu-kun?"

Yagyuu found the website for the local news station and clicked the link to the interview.

Tezuka stiffened visibly as he watched the imposter perfectly imitate Fuji's voice, way of speech, and even his little habits as he talked, such as gestures with his arms. The smile was absolutely flawless.

"Wha-…?" Tezuka frowned, and turned to Yagyuu. "What is the meaning of this?"

Yagyuu frowned. "I don't know. However… all the information presented in the interview is true. Why would this criminal go through all the trouble of impersonating Fuji-kun, and not do anything…?"

Tezuka frowned. "Because he wanted us to know that he had access to our information…"

Yagyuu stiffened. Its true… all the information that had been presented in the interview was true, and had yet to be released to the public… moreover, only those in the building knew of Fuji's absence. That really meant…

"God really does hate me, doesn't he…?" Yagyuu mumbled to himself, and wandered out of his friend's office.

He walked into his office, and grabbed the papers on the newest case. It had yet to be named… so much for his day off.

He flipped through the papers, deep in thought. The newest incident… he wondered if it had a connection to his case…? It seemed like one of the flashy, sneaky crimes this criminal would do…

Yagyuu wrote up a document on the impersonation. He added the URL to the interview, as well as the information presented, and the police files on it, before dropping it off in Tezuka's box. If he thought it was the work of their newest enemy also, then they had gotten into a bigger mess than they had first thought…

"Hm? What are you doing here today, Ya~gyuu~?"

Oh, great. _Just_ who he had wanted to see.

"I'm working, Niou-kun, what else is there to do?"

"You don't have to be so touchy, Ya~gyuu~."

Yagyuu sighed, and turned to Niou. "As much as I would love to waste time, chatting here, with you, Niou-kun, I have work to do. If you would please excuse me…" and with that, he walked off, leaving Niou to chuckle after him.

"You should really be careful who you mess with, Ya~gyuu~" Niou chuckled to himself, walking off in the opposite direction.

That night, Yagyuu went to bed early. That is, if you could call that going to bed… really, he just lay under the covers in his dark apartment, thinking over the case. In all the thievery, trickery, and whatever else this criminal had done, no one had seen his face… he was, so to speak, a master of disguise…

He had connections, too, apparently. To their firm, and their data bases… For all Yagyuu knew, it could be Tezuka, or Fuji, his boss, or the others, like Sengoku, Shiraishi, the Oshitari's…

Sighing, he sat up in his bed, and glanced at the clock. 3:00 am. It was a little early to get ready for work, but he wouldn't be getting any sleep like this.

He turned on the lights, and stepped into the shower. He was rubbing his Old Spice 3-in-1 into his air, and over his body, when Niou's face popped into his head.

Sputtering, Yagyuu stumbled lightly. Who's face was he thinking of, in the shower of all places! _'God, I really must be overworking myself…' _Yagyuu thought to himself, shaking his head. Of course that was it… what other reason would there be for… such thoughts?

He quickly finished up, pulling on a pair of jeans and draping his towel over his shoulders, to catch any stray drops of water, which might drip from his pathetically dried hair.

'_Maybe I should go out for breakfast?' _Yagyuu thought. _'….. like a good breakfast place would be open at this time of day…'_

He popped out a pot, and boiled some eggs, before going to check his emails.

When he saw one from Tezuka, he opened it, and quickly skimmed it through.

_Yagyuu,_

_I think you are right. This definitely seems like something that would relate well with that case. However, I believe our priority should be naming this case. For now, we have far too little evidence to be worrying about subjects. We should just see how this criminal works for a while, before actually acting. _

_Thank you,  
Tezuka. _

Yagyuu nodded lightly. It was definitely too early on to be suspecting people, as well as releasing any information on the case.

As his eggs finished cooking, he flicked to the news, as he did every morning, only to drop the pot, and his eggs to hit the floor, and crack.

There, on the TV, was him… only, not in a false interview, like Fuji had been…

He was dead.

And next to him, written in blood, were the words:

DON'T MESS WITH ME  
-Petenshi

_A/N: I'm sorry I took so long to update! I have been really distracted lately… I had writing the second chapter to this a long time ago, but I LOST IT, and had to completely re-start… so again, sorry for the wait xD_

_I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! And yes, Old Spice, three-in-one is a shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, all in one. That's hot, so I decided to add it in. I'm not weird, I swear. XDDD_

_THANKS FOR READING! Reviews are more than welcome :3_


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